What does your ideal Christmas look like (CC)?

[Avila]

For the first time ever, DH and I are opting out of all the hoopla surrounding the holidays this year. We will be seeing relatives on our terms and not theirs, and we will be buying less and staying home more. It hit me this evening that I finally have the opportunity to create exactly what I want for this Christmas, but I am not sure I know what that is, since we have always had to work around everyone else's schedules. Even when we were at home, we were always on a time crunch, as there was always somewhere else we needed to be later.

 

We will still see the relatives on our own schedule, and we will be attending religious services. But other than that, I am trying to figure out our own traditions and how to make the most of Christmas with just us this year. So what does your ideal Christmas look like?

[Nestof3]

Honestly, I would like less of the spending time with family we would never see any other time of the year. Seriously, that just really makes me think more about the fact that we don't really have any closeness in our family outside of our own family and our parents.

 

I'd rather spend that time with close friends.

 

I would like less emphasis on the cooking and more on the relaxing.

 

And, we seriously try to live our lives everyday in a way that is pleasing unto God, but we don't see Christmas as a holiday to celebrate Jesus' birth (though we do sing songs about it -- we sing lots of songs on Christmas Eve). We treat it as a holiday to have fun, give gifts, drive around looking at "tacky santas" as we call them, eat milkshakes and french fries at Silver Dinder, be merry and so forth.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I love our Christmas. It is simple and comfortable to me.

 

Christmas Eve - we get together with Dh's family - I could actually do without this but it's ok. Chalk this one up to family duty.

 

Christmas morning - we get up not too early. I have a special breakfast every Christmas morning. We have scrambled eggs and bacon, cinnamon rolls (the only morning we have it all year), orange juice, and fruit salad.

 

After we've tidied up after breakfast, we gather in the living room. We read the Christmas story in Luke. Often we will sing a Christmas carol or two. Then we will pass out the Christmas gifts. We each only get a few - one from the parents, one from the sibling, and usually something from Grandma and Grandpa. The youngest gets something from under the tree first and hands it to the recipient (not herself!). That person opens their gift. Then they get a gift for someone else. Our gifts aren't fancy but we do try to get things that the people really like. I feel like the number of gifts is just right - not too much and not too little.

 

We sit around and talk and play with our gifts afterwards.

[Rosy]

We start with birthday cake for Jesus and the Christmas story.

 

Then we buy Jesus his birthday present--we go to the Gospel for Asia (our favorite missionary org) website and pick something out together.

 

Then we open our presents for each other, have breakfast, and then relax and play with our new toys.

 

Then our play time usually gets cut short to go to my mom's house....this is the less ideal part of Christmas for me. We have to get there fairly early as they have plans in the evening with my stepdad's family, and it's always chaotic and noisy and there's a lot of tension (fighting, even on Christmas) between my little brother & sister and my mom & stepdad. And my aunt and uncle come, which adds to the chaos. I love them all and wouldn't skip seeing them, but since we're talking *ideal* Christmas, I would prefer to either have friends over in the evening or go play in the snow or take a vacation (that we had packed for in advance so Christmas day wasn't stressful trying to get ready).

[Sasha]

I really love the way we approach Christmas. Both dh and I put our foot (feet?) down several years ago regarding frantic family visiting--we were trying to divide our time between my mom's house, my dad's house, and MIL's house. It was too much for us, too much to expect of the kids (I think we only had dd at the time) and just generally no fun.

 

Now we get up at around normal time. I always have presents arranged just-so before finally turning into bed (we do Santa here) and the playroom, where the tree is, always looks fairly magical. DH lights a fire in the woodstove, also in the playroom, and we enjoy the comfy warmth. I'll make hot chocolate on the stove and then we'll open presents.

 

After gifts are opened we bundle up and go outside to do the chores. The little boys can help feed the chickens, we throw treats to the pigs (if they haven't already been slaughtered--usually they have by that time of year but not always), and feed the cows. Dh has to milk the cows and he does so while the kids enjoy the new toys.

 

Then we go to my mom's house to spend the day. We cook a Thanksgiving-like feast and enjoy being together. We might watch "The Christmas Story" as it works its 24 hour rotation on TBS or "Christmas Vacation" (my personal favorite).

 

It's all very low-key, informal, and nice.

[Avila]

Thanks for sharing your Christmas ideas with me. There is a lot of good stuff here, and some definite encouragement for us to just slow down. I really wish I could say I loved our holidays, but this might definitely help.

 

I think we are going to Mass the night before, and I am thinking about doing overnight cinnamon rolls and an overnight breakfast casserole that we can bake Christmas morning so that we can just get up and enjoy being with one another. I am also thinking of buying some new board games specifically so that we can sit around and play games in the afternoon.

 

Anyone else care to share?

[squirtymomma]

The youngest gets something from under the tree first and hands it to the recipient (not herself!). That person opens their gift. Then they get a gift for someone else.

 

I like this idea. This is our first year to do Christmas as just our family at our own house. We've always been at either my parents' or my dh's parents' house for Christmas. I'm also thinking about how we want to do things. We do advent readings/singing throughout December. I'm actually excited about cooking what I want this year.

[TammyinTN]

We love our little family Christmas traditions. We cook a big meal on Christmas Eve have a great family dinner. Eat by candle light with Christmas music playing. Crawl into our pj's, watch movies and just enjoy the night. Christmas day is filled with playing with our toys and hanging out with the kids. It's quiet, peaceful, relaxing and fun for all of us.

[swellmomma]

OUr holidays get packed but in a good way. They officially start on Dec 12 (this year at least), at my mom's annual xmas party. She has held this party since I was 7. It is a chance to catch up with the cousins/aunts/uncles etc that we don't see often and to visit with the ones we do, family friends that I have known since I was small, and who have seen my grow up and now my kids etc. This saves us from lots of other visits in the year, we get to see everyone at once.

 

On the 22nd my clan, my folks, my sister and her dh and my nephew, my bros and his fiance and my chinese "brother" and his gf will all be heading the the Fort here in the city for a hayride, strolling down 1905 and 1920 streets experiencing christmas in those eras, carolling etc. (last year we did a sleighride down candy cane lane).

 

On different days between the 1st of Dec and the 12th my folks will take my 3 big kids one at a time for a baking date and they will bake a christmas treat together for the party.

 

Christmas eve, we gather at my folks place for dominoes and chinese food, present wrapping, and then I have to decide whether or not we are spending the night or not. My mom reads the kids "twas the night before xmas. SHe has read this every xmas eve since I was a kid.

 

Christmas morning we open the gifts(in past years we stayed at grandma's, so I would make 2-3 trips taking all the presents home with no kids in the van to fit it all). We gather with the family at 4pmish for dinner.

 

While teh meal at dinner is bigger we get together with everyone(meaning the same group of us headed for the Fort), every couple months anyway so that part is not a big deal.

 

I do get drained from it, because I stress about my kids being pretty much perfect at each of these events, but over all it is not bad.

 

Oh yeah and at somepoint between Dec and Jan1 my brother and fiance have the kids find the hidden pickle on their tree for an extra present to the winner (last year was the first year they did this so the kids are excited about this year.)

[Amy loves Bud]

Honestly, I would like less of the spending time with family we would never see any other time of the year. Seriously, that just really makes me think more about the fact that we don't really have any closeness in our family outside of our own family and our parents.

 

I'd rather spend that time with close friends.

 

I would like less emphasis on the cooking and more on the relaxing.

 

 

 

I agree with what you are saying about family vs. friends. Our close friends are really more our family than much of our extended family. They are there in the trenches with us day in and day out year round, yet during the holidays we tend to go back to those childhood relationships. It's weird.

 

As far as the cooking, I've changed that up by making our big meal on Christmas Eve, with attention to having plenty of leftovers. Then on Christmas Day I am free to relax and enjoy the day, and not spend it in the kitchen. I really enjoy preparing the holiday meals, but on Christmas Day I prefer to stay in the jammies late and play with the kids and snuggle with Bud.

[littlebug42]

Christmas Eve is spent with my family at my brother's house. We go there at about noon, eat, open presents and spend the day together. In the evening, we head home, get in PJ's, pop popcorn and watch Charlie Brown Christmas and Muppet Christmas Carol, which we started doing every year when our first was about a year old. Usually, I have to work after that but I got to have Christmas off this year.

 

In the morning, we open presents, I make homemade donuts or pancakes and then we go to mass. After mass, we go to MIL's house and spend the rest of the day with them. We love our Christmas the way it is. We get to spend lots of time with both families and balance it out with time just the 4 of us.

[Garga]

What's my ideal Christmas? Instead of what actually happens?

 

Here's the ideal (this is not counting the days before Christmas.)

 

All the (wrapped) gifts would be put under the tree the night before. Stockings would be stuffed. We would have bought donuts the day before to eat for breakfast (our grocery store carries the BEST donuts ever.)

 

We'd get up about 6:00 (which is when ds usually wants to boing out of bed. We make him wait until 6:30 usually.)

 

We'd be in our jammies, robes and slippers. We'd light the tree, light the fire, turn on the music.

 

We would open the stockings first. Then eat the donuts.

 

After the donuts, we'd start opening presents. We would throw the wrapping paper all around the room. No putting it directly into a trash bag. Just a big pile of paper everywhere.

 

After all the presents were opened, we'd each gather our loot around ourselves and take a picture of each of us with our new treasure. My parents did this when I was a kid and I love looking back and remembering what I got each year (because w/o the pictures, I forget.) Then we'd shower/get dressed and play with our new toys for awhile.

 

We'd eat something small for lunch--maybe leftovers from some other meal, or a sandwich, saving room for popcorn and candy because then, we'd...

 

... head out to the movies for a matinee.

 

Directly after the matinee we'd meet friends at the Chinese buffet for dinner.

 

Then, we and the friends would go to our house and play with our toys and talk with our friends some more.

 

Then, bed. The next day would be spend entirely at home, playing with our new toys. And the day after that, all the Christmas decorations would come down in preparation for my and dh's birthdays (Dec 29th and 30th.)

 

That's the ideal. We hit on some of those things some years, but I'd love to do all of them all in the same day one year.

[ChristusG]

We have lots of traditions we do throughout the month of December, but I'll just talk about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

 

My ideal Christmas usually happens (with a change this year).

 

On Christmas Eve we (me, DH, kids, my parents, my sisters) attend the early (5 PM) candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church. From there, we all head over to my grandparents house. We've been doing this ever since I was a little kid. We eat dinner with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. Then we all gather around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts with each other. We eat dessert, then head home. Once at home (just DH, the kids, and I), we open stocking gifts. Santa does not fill the stockings, we do. And we open them on Christmas Eve (been doing this since I was born). Then we head the kids off to bed. Afterwards, DH and I open up the fireplace (to look like Santa left it open), set out the unwrapped gifts from Santa (and put together anything that needs to be), eat the cake (no cookies for Santa, he gets a piece of Jesus's birthday cake), and drink the milk. Then it is off to bed for us.

 

The next morning we get up early! That's part of the fun of Christmas for me....getting up before the sun. My parents and sisters come over to our house at the crack of dawn (they just live around the corner). We turn on the Christmas tree lights and turn on the Christmas music. We wake the kids (if they are not already awake) and they wander into the living room and discover what Santa left for them. Then we all exchange gifts with each other. Usually somewhere in here, we eat a special breakfast of casserole and donuts.

 

Here's where the change comes in. We usually rush to get the kids away from their toys so we can get ready and leave to go eat with family. Not this year! We want to enjoy Christmas a bit more and hang around the house. So the family is coming to us this year. But I do not have to worry about a lot of cooking or anything because we all contribute.

 

We get together with family for a 1 o'clock Christmas dinner. We fellowship for a while.

 

That night, our little family has a birthday party for Jesus, complete with cake and decorations! The kids get a "Jesus" gift to open.....usually a Christian book or video or toy. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, eat the cake we made for him, and tell two versions of the Christmas story. First, we'll read the Christmas story from the Bible in Luke. Second, we'll read a children's book about the Christmas story. Then, we all write on a piece of paper something that we want to do for Jesus in the coming year. We each tape our papers to our own helium filled balloons (purchased from the dollar tree the day before). We all walk outside and release our balloons into the sky as a symbol of sending them up to Jesus.

 

I love our Christmas traditions!!

[Nestof3]

As far as the cooking, I've changed that up by making our big meal on Christmas Eve, with attention to having plenty of leftovers. Then on Christmas Day I am free to relax and enjoy the day, and not spend it in the kitchen. I really enjoy preparing the holiday meals, but on Christmas Day I prefer to stay in the jammies late and play with the kids and snuggle with Bud.

 

I like that idea.

 

Our house is small, and we don't have room for a tree. We do all of Christmas at my parents' house, which is 1/2 mile down the street.

 

We usually have "Christmas Eve festivities" as we call it. My mom and I make finger foods and punch, and we have songbooks I made up years ago. We sing many songs from these.

 

Then we come back to my parents' in the morning to open presents. Then we come back in the evening for dinner.

 

This year, my mom is recovering from a lung removal, and Thanksgiving fell mostly on me but still at her house. My Dad always wants to invite family over, but he has no idea how stressful it is for the women who do the preparing and cooking. He helps clean up, but that's it.

 

It's fun doing the whole tree thing at my mom's house, but it's all just a little too much, especially if we have to leave a couple of days later to go see my inlaws. I'd like to scale back this year. We probably won't be able to do the fingerfoods and huge dinner, so perhaps we can do the dinner on Christmas Eve and just chill out on Christmas Day.

 

Thanks for the thought.